Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Widespread Internet Outages Hit Major Area of U.S.
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
January 26, 2021

Share

Internet users across the northeast U.S. reported widespread outages Tuesday.

In an emailed statement 90 minutes after the outage was first reported, Verizon said it was working on the problem hurting Fios service “throughout the Northeast corridor” and that some service had already been restored.

The telecom giant had reported a cut fiber in Brooklyn via Twitter, although it’s not clear if that issue was responsible for the outage. Verizon didn’t give any estimate in its email about when the problem would be fixed and didn’t reply to questions about what caused the problem.

Comcast, another major internet service provider, said it had not observed problems with its network Tuesday.

People posting on Twitter reported having issues connecting with various online services in a geographic area stretching from Washington to Boston. That densely populated region includes key U.S. government services as well as major financial companies such as Fidelity Investments.

Diana Gaspar’s daughter in New York couldn’t connect to her online classroom because their home internet was spotty for a couple of hours in the afternoon, although her daughter was able to log in with Gaspar’s phone.

“We didn’t see it as a major issue,” Gaspar said. “The only inconvenience was me not having my phone.”

The outage affected internet and cloud providers as well as major sites such as Google and Facebook. Amazon, whose web services division powers a wide ranges of online services, indicated its network wasn’t the cause of the problem.

Google Said It Also Had Not Found Issues With Its Own Services and Was Investigating

It said that for about an hour and a half, ending at around 12:45 p.m. Eastern, some customers on the East Coast had problems connecting to Amazon Web Services, or AWS. It said its services were operating normally.

Google said it also had not found issues with its own services and was investigating.

The East Coast outages began at 11:25 a.m. local time and recovery began at 12:37 p.m, according to Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a network monitoring company. He reported a 12% drop in traffic volume to Verizon.

Madory said he did not yet know if other carriers were impacted.

Disruptions to internet services are always a hassle, but have become even more excruciating as the pandemic forces millions of people to work from home and students to attend school remotely.

“Widespread internet outages in the area impacting remote learning today,” Galvin Middle School in Wakefield, Massachusetts, a suburb north of Boston, lamented in a tweet. “Stay patient and do best you can. It’s out of our control. Hopefully things will be resolved soon!”

Reached on the phone at Galvin Middle, Trish Dellanno said that those students who were learning remotely got paper assignments. “Teachers have been able to keep on moving. They’re going old school.”

Cary Wiedemann, a network engineer who had connectivity problems at his home in Northern Virginia, said that some online services could have been disrupted even if your home internet still worked, if the issue was with the backbone of Verizon’s network.

“If Outlook works but YouTube doesn’t, whose fault is it? Verizon’s fault. But that’s not obvious from the onset,” he said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

DON'T MISS

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

DON'T MISS

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

DON'T MISS

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

DON'T MISS

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

DON'T MISS

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

DON'T MISS

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

DON'T MISS

9-Year-Old Among 5 Killed in Christmas Market Attack in Germany

DON'T MISS

Biden Signs Bill That Averts Government Shutdown, and Brings a Close to Days of Washington Upheaval

UP NEXT

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

UP NEXT

US Deportations Surge to Highest Level in a Decade Before Trump Takes Office

UP NEXT

White House Pushes to Find American Journalist Abducted in Syria

UP NEXT

Liberal Donors Plot to Overturn Republican House Majority in 2026

UP NEXT

The ‘Murder Hornet’ Has Been Eradicated From US, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments Over the Law That Could Ban TikTok

UP NEXT

Trump’s Picks for Top Health Jobs Not Just Team of Rivals but ‘Team of Opponents’

UP NEXT

Most US Teens Are Abstaining From Drinking, Smoking and Marijuana, Survey Says

UP NEXT

Mystery Drone Sightings Continue in New Jersey and Across the US. Here’s What We Know

UP NEXT

Drone Sightings Lead to Airspace Shutdown at Ohio Military Base, Arrests Near Boston Airport

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

16 hours ago

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

16 hours ago

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

17 hours ago

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

17 hours ago

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

17 hours ago

9-Year-Old Among 5 Killed in Christmas Market Attack in Germany

17 hours ago

Biden Signs Bill That Averts Government Shutdown, and Brings a Close to Days of Washington Upheaval

17 hours ago

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

19 hours ago

The Fed Expects to Cut Rates More Slowly in 2025. What That Could Mean for Mortgages, Debt and More

22 hours ago

New California Voter ID Ban Puts Conservative Cities at Odds With State

22 hours ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

In a recent interview, renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs outlined his concerns about the possibility of war with Iran, framing it as the culm...

14 hours ago

14 hours ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

15 hours ago

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

16 hours ago

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

16 hours ago

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

16 hours ago

FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

17 hours ago

In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

17 hours ago

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

17 hours ago

It’s Eggnog Season. The Boozy Beverage Dates Back to Medieval England but Remains a Holiday Hit

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend